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I would like to hear from folks who have had any experience with breaking a lease in brooklyn. i live in lefferts garden and want to move to prospect heights but still have 6 months left on my lease. i am willing to give up my deposit money to break my lease but definitely can not afford to pay out my remaining 6 months of rent. if it makes any difference there have been major problems with our building, cops are here pretty often, this past weekend the front door to the building was kicked in, homeless people sleeping in the stairwells, blarring music and people doing bong loads in the hallway! anyway anyone got any advice on how to go about breaking a lease? i am sort of looking at the market and am going to check a few places out this week, if i find a nice place i am planning on calling my landlord and seeing what my options are. thanks.
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also i should note, i read my lease through and through and it says very little about anything regarding leaving before the lease ends. states something regarding lease reassignment and subletting requiring landlord authorization but thats about it.
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I've never done it, but I would assume that it would be easy in a hot rental market. When there is turnover,it benefits the landlord because he can up the rent and get someone new in there quickly at the new rate. If I were you I'd feel it out with the landlord. See how he/she responds. I may have to break a lease later this year (if I have to move for work) and I'm not too worried about it.
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My husband broke his lease when we moved in together. Our leases ended at opposite times of year, so one of us was going to have to do it eventually. You might try coming up with a story involving a significant other and/or a job that can't be commuted to from PLG as a way to break the lease without antagonizing your landlord by implying the building's a shithole. Just don't mention that you're planning to move someplace one subway stop away. Good luck!"Now if every newspaper editor had to deal with a reader like Emily, boy, would they think twice, or three times." --greg
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I agree with Leet. Especially since you mentioned that there's nothing explicit regarding breaking it. It's a landlord flip- why wouldn't they?
"...you can choose the rain....but I choose the sun..." - N. Costa -
just tell your ll about you need to move for job or move in with new hubby etc.. make up a very good lie :p. i normally buy it when people tell me they have new jobs.Fight white guilt and injustice by smoking tax free guilt free Reservation Smokes or go gamble in a Native Casino.
I like to stick it to The Man, The Man happens to be Liberal in NYC(power Structure). -
It totally depends on the landlord—and your relationship with the landlord. Legally, I don't think you're in that great a position. The lease says you agree to pay the rent, every month, till the lease term is done. Some leases go into detail about what happens if you break it, but that's really redundant. The point of a legal contract is you're expected to keep your end of it, in the same way the landlord is expected to allow you to stay through the whole lease term. But take comfort—landlords hate going to court. Most places I've lived, these things have worked out if the tenant gives the landlord enough time to find a new tenant. In small buildings, I've gone out and found a tenant to replace me. The landlord was perfectly happy, as long as the new tenant was alright and the rent checks kept coming. Try being nice before bringing up the stoners, the homeless guys, and the noise. I don't know if you have legal standing to break the lease based on any of those issues.
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right. i think i am going to take the approach of saying i got a job in LA or something like that as opposed to saying the building is a shit hole. thanks for the tips. hopefully i will not run into a big hassle with this.
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I would get copies of the police reports, write your landlord a formal letter (sent by registered mail) stating that you simply don't feel safe in this building. The tenant has a right to "quiet enjoyment" which this landlord is not providing. The landlord probably won't bother taking this to court--it's cheaper to rerent the apartment. You'll lose your deposit, but you'll be out of your lease.
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But try being nice first. I've broken three leases in my time, and each time I got my deposit back.
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I am a landlord in PH. I have always let tenants out of their leases as long as they give me ample time to show the apt and help me to rent it, e.g. allow access and keep it clean so that it shows well. If you have only been in the place for 6 months, they may keep part of your deposit as a fee for their effort to have to find another tenant. I have not done this yet, but would consider it if the tenant only stayed 6 months. It is a lot of work to field calls, return emails and show the place. In bigger buildings with managing agents, you will probably lose a good portion of the deposit, if not all. Definitely, try being nice first. That does not mean that you cannot site your safety as a reason for wanting to leave.
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You may have to give up your deposit, no?
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Just speak to your landlord and ask what are your options. I believe that if the landlord does not want to let you out of the lease, they may allow you to find a suitable tenant to take over the lease thereby relieving you of the obligation of remaining for the additonal six months.Reach for the Stars, saying I am and I am going to be.
Keep living and keep loving,
Anthony -
So I called my landlord. Basically she said all I have to do is find someone to sublet the apartment who meets income/credit requirements. Should not be too hard realistically, plus whoever moves in will not have to pay the broker fee that I paid and will be able to take over the lease in October if the choose too. Also I would be able to get my security deposit from them.
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I'm just curious - I've always wondered what I'd do in a similar situation. Are you going to tell the person who you find to sub-lease about the issues you've had?
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If it's your first apartment rental, why not try and sublet it? I think there was some rule about first time lease holders being able to sublet. I did that with my first apartment but that was 13+ years ago.Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches.
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Reviving a long dead thread... I am being interviewed for a dream job on the West coast. I don't have the offer yet (I still have one last round of interviews), but I am already starting to worry about how this might affect my lease. I am really inspired by brooklynlager's story, but I'm super worried my landlord won't be willing to work with me. (My hope is that the landlord would allow me to assign the lease to someone else.) My question is: Should I talk to my landlord about this now (while the situation is still hypothetical), or should I wait until I have an actual job offer in hand (if that happens)? I kind of want to get the conversation over with (and know one way or the other if this is do-able before I fly out there for the interviews), but I also worry I might be putting myself at some kind of risk by asking before the offer is definite. Full disclosure: I've been a good tenant. My relationship with the LL has been distant but amicable. Any advice?
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wait until you get the offer. if you don't, then no need to have potentially upset your LL.Bumping ancient threads with bot-like bullshit
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definitly wait until you get the job first, than start figuring your way out of the lease. most likely your landlord will be willing to work with you if you explain your situation, give plenty of notice and cooperate in finding a new tenant for lease reassignment or a sublet. to update my original post, i did indeed successfully get out of my old lease in lefferts garden by finding a new tenant. getting my security deposit back was a pain in the ass but i left a few threatening voice mail messages claiming to press charges explaining i had a lawyer, was ready to go to court with documents and other lies. after a lot of back and forth i received my security deposit back in full.
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Subject: Re: Anyone have expierence with breaking a lease in BK?
brooklynlager » I would like to hear from folks who have had any experience with breaking a lease in brooklyn. i live in lefferts garden and want to move to prospect heights but still have 6 months left on my lease. i am willing to give up my deposit money to break my lease but definitely can not afford to pay out my remaining 6 months of rent. if it makes any difference there have been major problems with our building, cops are here pretty often, this past weekend the front door to the building was kicked in, homeless people sleeping in the stairwells, blarring music and people doing bong loads in the hallway! anyway anyone got any advice on how to go about breaking a lease? i am sort of looking at the market and am going to check a few places out this week, if i find a nice place i am planning on calling my landlord and seeing what my options are. thanks.
Geez, sounds like you could just leave and the LL would never notice. -
The marketing season for rentals is over now, but you can probably strike up a deal with your landlord. I use to work for a managing company and we would let the tenants break their lease and refund their deposit if the apartment was re-rented before they moved out.
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My husband and I have 10 months left on our lease in West Crown Heights for a railroad apartment that is in fine shape, but not the " stainless steel appliance and exposed brick" type of fine that most new people are looking for.
Between signing this lease and now, though, our building was sold to a management company whose website boasts of new kitchens, gardens, renovated baths, etc - none of which our building has. As its only been 2 weeks nothing has happened yet, but as a rent stabilized tenant our guess is they're waiting for our leases to expire one by one and then redo the building to make more money.
This all being said, my husband and I are in the process of buying a condo (offer accepted, waiting to do even more paperwork, etc) and will need out of our lease - probably in October.
If it had been the old landlord, we would have called him said we were leaving, and that would have been that - my gut says he wouldn't have been upset to see the lease broken.
But now we have this large company - and one with more motivation to see us gone.My question is : can we use this to our advantage? Can we possibly sell a sob story about not affording the neighborhood (true...which is why we are moving further south) and how we would leave now if only we had money to move. Do you think they'd buy us out of our lease? Or is this wishful thinking and we should just break the lease.
Any advice out there?
Thanks! -
The Psycho-ologist
big A little a Bouncing B the system may have got you but it won't get me.
Joined: Jan '08
Posts: 439BKChickie said:
I would get copies of the police reports, write your landlord a formal letter (sent by registered mail) stating that you simply don't feel safe in this building. The tenant has a right to "quiet enjoyment" which this landlord is not providing.The landlord probably won't bother taking this to court--it's cheaper to rerent the apartment. You'll lose your deposit, but you'll be out of your lease.
Do the above,
AND:
Give the landlord 30 days notice in a registered signed with receipt letter that you mailed.
take pictures of your place when you move out to make sure that the place looks fine and they cannot state that they need to reallocate your security for damages. Make sure you have mail forwarding, so that if they do mail you any legal things, you can get that mail.
Lastly, take pictures and document things that make you feel unsafe, and state that you did that in the letter you wrote, and also state that those are the reasons you are moving. This tends to give them enough pause to know that letting you leave may be much easier than a protracted legal battle. usually the battle would consist of them having to fix those things by a certain period, while you put rent in escrow or pay your rent. All that costs THEM time and money in lawyer fees. Its just easier to let them have time to find a new person to replace you while you leave quitely.[b]most probably you wont get your deposit back, especially if you vacate without having a new tenant lined up to take up the remainder of the leasea teaspoon of kisses and a drop of glee -
I posted my new question on an old thread...maybe I shouldn't have. The original post is from years ago...I was searching on here to see if people had a similar question....but my building is perfectly safe.
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I don't know what the laws really are in NYC, but my husband and I bought a place in the middle of our lease in a similar situation (building/apartment was fine, we had no grounds to break a lease.) We talked to the landlord who had no problems breaking our lease, instead of us doing some kind of sublet situation, but he had a big problem giving back our deposit. (Because of that, I wanted to just skip out on paying the last month's rent; husband wouldn't hear of it.)
The rental market is hot. I think your LL would probably want to re-lease the apartment (possibly for a higher amount.)
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What about if you go to the company and say something to the extent of: I've noticed the standards are really high for buildings you own. I imagine you would like to start upgrading the apartments in this building as soon as possible so you can start getting more rent. We are currently in the process of acquiring an alternative, more permanent living option, we are simply waiting for some more financial opportunities to come across. Is there any way we can both work together to meet both out objectives?
Or something. It may not work, but it might be worth a try. Good luck.
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I don't think you need any sort of story, nor would one be likely to help if your landlord doesn't feel like cooperating. Just ask them if they would be willing to end the lease early. You don't have to give any explanation. You're probably better off giving them as little information as possible anyway, real or imaginary.
If not, you're entitled to sublet under NYC housing laws, although your landlord has to be notified and have the opportunity to approve the sublessor, they're not allowed to reject them unreasonably.
This option is important even if you are not willing to exercise it. A greedy landlord may count on you being unable to remain at the location and may try to squeeze you for some or all of the remaining months of rent. If they do, you can feign inability to pay and propose the sublet option, which may get them to let you off the hook.
Good luck. I suspect you shouldn't have too much trouble voluntarily vacating a rent-stabilized apartment in this area.
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My Crown Heights landlord kept my security deposit when we requested to break our lease early.
It really comes down to $$$$. If you give a long advance notice and move in a time best for the landlord to fill the apt back up it could be OK. Really depends on the landlord.
[Mamacita said:
I <3 CTK
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xlizellx-
In market rate land: Many landlords will give you the option of forfeiting your deposit, or finding a tenant to fulfill the lease.
You are in rent stabilized land. So your situation is a little better: You have the right to sublease, and the HCR rent help line will help explain how to do it.
...like the above posters, I would even go so far to say that -yes- the present market is hot enough that he may even be happy to see you go: Together with the vacancy allowance, he might be able to make enough improvements to your apt to get it stabilized.
For better or worse, the change on Nostrand is going to make the change on Franklin look minor. -
Cool The Kid said:
My Crown Heights landlord kept my security deposit when we requested to break our lease early.It really comes down to $$$$. If you give a long advance notice and move in a time best for the landlord to fill the apt back up it could be OK. Really depends on the landlord.
He can't do that. He HAS to return your security. He may sue you for breach of contract, but your security is sacred.
You could have had him over a barrel for that.
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In some states you are allowed to break your lease without penalty if you buy a home. Is there no such law in NY?
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Nope. Nothing stops you from negotiating it into your lease, though. Aside from foresight and landlord recalcitrance, of course.
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eastbloc said:
He can't do that. He HAS to return your security. He may sue you for breach of contract, but your security is sacred.You could have had him over a barrel for that.
Dude, not to call you out, but this is a complete 180 from what you said 2 years ago, when I made a thread about the situation. It was actually partially your advice at the time that made me give up on it.
eastbloc said:
What exactly is scummy about it? She did you both a favor, given the months it could have taken to fill the apartment which you would have been on the hook for, and explained it fully.A broken lease is a major disruption, especially when as with you the notice given is very short. With a longer notice, the landlord has an opportunity to line up the next tenant, and it's an event they can plan for far in advance.
As landlords go, I'd say it's very professional behavior. There are a few who would take lease-breakers for everything they're worth.
You should consider your potential exposure and be grateful for this outcome.
And go easy on the landlady. She seems all right to me.
I don't know whats changed between now and then, but it was worth getting out of that apartment in any case.
[Mamacita said:
I <3 CTK
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Sorry, I wasn't clear, and moreover I conflated two situations. Let me explain what I meant to say.
The landlord can't keep your deposit if you find a qualified tenant to replace you. The landlord can't unreasonably decline the tenant you find to replace you.
If the tenant makes no effort to fulfill the terms of his lease, or negotiate a settlement with the landlord, the landlord _is_ entitled to the security as part of the damages caused by breach of contract.
Hence, if you want to get out of a lease, you have to at least appear to earnestly want to exercise your option to replace the tenant and thereby make good on the terms of the contract. The landlord will either go along with that, or decide it's not worth the hassle and do whatever he normally does to get a new tenant.
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